An 11-year-old girl brutally murdered by her stepdad was praised by a judge for coming to the aid of her wounded mother moments earlier before being attacked herself.

Little Ella Dalby, who was 4ft 11in and weighed just over 6st, left her bed when hearing her mother Laura Mortimer’s screams in the early hours of May 28.

Despite the pair putting up a brave struggle at their home on Dexter Way, Gloucester, they were stabbed to death by Christopher Boon, who today, Monday, was jailed for life for their murders at Bristol Crown Court.

He will serve a minimum term of 29 years before being considered for parole.

Judge Mrs Justice May described to a packed and emotional courtroom how the much-loved mother and daughter died by an act of ‘unspeakable savagery’, triggered by Laura asking Boon for a divorce.

On the night of attack, Laura had been out to a local pub and was in good spirits, the court heard. But a few hours later, at the house she shared with her estranged husband for convenience, the terrible tragedy would unfold.

The court heard Laura was attacked first, after having an argument with Boon at around 3am. He told police in a phone call when he left the scene that he ‘picked up a knife and lost it'.

“Blood found on Ella’s feet leads to the inference that she must have come in when her mother was already bleeding,” said High Court judge Mrs Justice May, when sentencing Boon.

“She would have witnessed some part of your murderous attack on her mother and tried to stop you before you turned the knife on her. What a brave girl.

“She and her mother were found lying together, side by side when they died.”

At the time of the murders, Boon had one hand in a plaster cast after he had punched a wall 10 days earlier.

The court was told the incident happened when Laura said she wanted them to separate, saying to her ‘that was meant for your face'.

Audible gasps were heard across the court when prosecutor Richard Smith QC used the deeply offensive swear word Boon would call her by and he would also be verbally abusive towards her.

Boon had a previous conviction from 2010 for assault, battery and criminal damage on a previous partner, who was attacked when she ended their relationship.

Christopher Boon

The court heard on Boxing Day 2014, Laura and Ella ran ‘screaming and crying’ to a neighbour’s house, complaining Laura, dressed only in her underwear, had been hit by Boon. She decided not to support a prosecution.

Prosecutor Richard Smith said they had been married for five years and the relationship was not without its difficulties. At the start of the year, Laura was ‘deeply upset’ to find out Boon had an affair and she decided to make a fresh start.

Family members sitting in the jury box and around 50 people in the public gallery heard how the electrical engineer had been told to leave in two weeks, but he carried out the murders.

“We do not know what caused him to take the life of his two family members,” said Mr Smith.

“The fact he had been told to leave the home for good, it was perhaps he and his evil temper could not cope.”

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

Several family and friends became upset when the prosecutor outlined the horrendous injuries they suffered. Many of them were defence wounds, indicating the fight they had put up against him.

Boon changed his trainers and left the house after his attack. He phoned his mother at around 4.30am and she attended the scene with her partner.

They made a 999 call to the emergency services but Laura and Ella were already dead.

Several harrowing victim impact statements from family members were read out including Laura’s mum Hilary Bartholomew and Ella’s dad Tom Dalby.

They described how they had to face the horrific task of seeing their loved ones after they had died.

Mrs Bartholomew said of her daughter: “She lived life to the full, she had a great sense of humour. Laura was friendly to everyone, a happy person who loved to make others happy.”

She added she was a hard worker who had done ‘brilliantly’ to set up her own business.

“Every morning when I wake up I think it has just been a nightmare then I realise it’s true,” she said about the murders, in the statement read by Mr Smith.

“Then the horror just hits me again.”

Laura Mortimer and Ella Dalby

Mr Dalby spoke affectionately about how he would spend lots of time with Ella and she would visit for tea in the week and other social occasions on weekends.

He said he had suffered a range of emotions in the aftermath of her death, feeling sick, angry and distraught.

He said when she was born, it was a ‘wonderful distraction against other terrible life events'.

“I loved her with all my heart,” he said.

Representing Boon, Stephen Leslie QC, did not offer any kind of apology on his behalf.

“It was a total loss of temper but no pre-meditation,” he said, telling the Mrs Justice May he had a history of blackouts, depression and epilepsy, some of the reasons why they were considering a defence of control.

He asked the judge to give Boon full credit for the guilty plea as ‘from the outset he accepted the act'.

Boon pleaded not guilty to the murders on July 31 but changed his pleas following a medical report. Further analysis found he was sober at the time of the killings.

Standing for sentence, Boon, with a shaved head wearing a t-shirt and jeans, held on to the side of the dock and showed no emotion.

Christopher Boon

At times during proceedings he was seen to smile, look at the floor and sit back in his chair.

Mrs Justice May said he carried out ‘an act of selfish rage and cruelty’ to his victims, a hard-working mum and her talented daughter.

Aggravating features of the case included Ella’s age and that the attack was at night in the family home, where they ‘were entitled to feel completely safe.’

“Nothing I say or do today can undo the families’ pain or compensate for their grievous loss,” she told him.

“Nothing can bring Laura or Ella back.”

Boon was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 29 years - the same for each count of murder to run concurrently.